ev-platform
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U POWER Tech
U POWER Tech is an electric-vehicle technology company building the UP Super Board, a mass-producible 'skateboard' chassis-by-wire that packages propulsion, steering, braking, suspension, thermal management and Level 2+ ADAS into a single plug-and-play platform. By decoupling the chassis from the vehicle body, U POWER lets automakers and fleet operators design custom EVs - vans, pickups, SUVs, specialty vehicles - on top of a validated base, cutting development time by at least six months. Founded in 2021 with offices in Silicon Valley (Sunnyvale) and Shanghai, the company sells to OEMs and commercial fleets and has expanded aggressively into North America with products like the UP VAN for last-mile delivery.
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies
Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies (RV Tech) is a 50/50 joint venture launched in November 2024 that fuses Rivian's software and electrical-hardware know-how with Volkswagen Group's global manufacturing scale. Co-headquartered in Palo Alto, it builds the zonal electrical architecture, operating systems, in-vehicle AI, and cloud-connectivity stack that will power next-generation software-defined vehicles across Volkswagen, Audi, Scout, Rivian, and more - aiming to make every new car smarter, cheaper to build, and continuously upgradable over the air.
Carsten Helbing
Carsten Helbing is the COO and Co-CEO of Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies, the $5.8 billion joint venture headquartered in Palo Alto that is building the software and electrical architecture stack for a new generation of software-defined vehicles. A mechanical engineer by training who spent more than two decades at Volkswagen - rising from graduate engineer to Group Chief Technology Engineer - Helbing now leads a ~1,500-person organisation alongside Rivian co-CEO Wassym Bensaid, bridging German engineering discipline with Silicon Valley's software-first culture to redefine how cars are built, updated, and experienced.